ISHUMAKI, Japan – Sometimes disaster relief comes in the form of chainsaws after tornado or mud-removal in the wake a flood. But sometimes it can come in the form of French toast seven months after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan March 11.
A six-man construction crew from Missouri Baptist churches returned from a multi-state disaster relief/mission trip Oct. 16. They joined mud-out teams from Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida, as well as other construction teams from California, Oklahoma and Canada in a recovery effort spanning 10-weeks of work with Samaritan’s Purse. The Missourians were: Chuck Wiersema and Gary Morris of Trinity Baptist, Willow Springs; Floyd Hansen, Kenny Hoefner and Chris Baker of Concord Baptist, Jefferson City; and David Price of Calvary Baptist, Neosho. The team did construction work in the Tohoku region in the northeast region of Japan.
Hansen said the devastation was much worse than he expected, even months after the initial earthquake and tsunami.
“It’s one thing to see it on TV,” he said, “but it’s something else to drive for miles and miles and just imagine how much water came through. You’d be on the second or third story and see places in the roof where the waters were.”
“We didn’t see anywhere near all of it, but the size and scope of the damage is hard to imagine,” Wiersema said. “Both the damage and the scope of the cleanup are overwhelming.”
In addition to the 16,000 people who lost their lives (and 4,000 still reported missing), the recovery effort is daunting. Rebuilding the muddy wastelands of Tohoku is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars and take up to a decade. Even seven months later, crews are still demolishing homes that cannot be salvaged. Authorities estimate more than 111,000 buildings and homes were destroyed with more than 650,000 damaged.
The Missouri team was able to work on four of the homes, specifically insulating and replacing floors and walls. It’s a small step forward in the shadow of more than half a million damaged buildings, but Price said God still used the team on the trip.
“I was told that the Japanese people would be skeptical of these
strangers coming to work with no strings attached, but they were very receptive,” Hansen said. “Once they saw that we were friendly and willing to use their construction methods and standards, they opened up.”
The different construction methods initially threw the Missourians for a loop. Studs in the United States are 2x4s, but since Japan uses the metric system “2×4” is meaningless. Sheets of drywall are smaller and studs spaced closer together.
Wiersema said the crew met several of the homeowners and they brought them snacks each afternoon.
“There was limited conversation due to the language barrier, but we were able to continue the relationship that had been laid down before us,” he said. “I hope they saw Christ through us. One of the lead carpenters told me that two people on that street had accepted Christ and they were hoping to start a church in the area.”
Price agreed that God used the team.
“The ground is very fertile for the Word to be spread,” Price said. “Sometimes it takes a disaster to open people’s hearts.”
Disaster Relief (DR) is near and dear to Price’s heart, and he knows how it can have an eternal impact. Price was saved through the testimony of chainsaw crews after the ice storm of 2007. He had grown up around the church, but it wasn’t until he saw love in action through a chainsaw unit that he gave his life to Jesus and was baptized.
“I’ve been in DR ever since,” he said. “It fills people with the question, ‘why do you do this?’ and you get to share the love of Jesus. I knew as soon as I first saw the earthquake on TV that I wanted to go and help, and was just waiting for the opportunity to arise.”
The opportunity arose, and once the Missouri crew landed, that’s where the French toast came in.
Price owns an automotive repair shop in Neosho, and when word got to recovery workers that he was handy with cars, his assignment shifted.
“None of their vehicles had been serviced at all and they needed some work,” he said.
Price changed the oil and repaired all the vehicles on three Samaritan’s Purse bases and serviced other mechanical equipment. One morning he decided the aid workers probably missed Western-style food, so he took it upon himself to make them French toast. They loved it, and soon his culinary skills were in as much demand as his automotive skill and he was cooking all over northern Japan.
“More than anything I loved on them,” he said. “Sometimes you need to serve the people who were struck by the disaster, and sometime to you need to serve other servants. Words can’t express how blessed I felt to do that for them.”
The blessings continued on the plane ride home. The crew decided to wear their yellow DR shirts all the way home, and as they landed in Chicago, the stewardess announced them and their mission over the PA system. Even on a cramped plane, they received a standing ovation.
“It’s not personal,” Price said. “It’s people acknowledging that we were just doing what God wanted us to do.”
BRIAN KOONCE/staff writer
bkoonce@mobaptist.org